Ferris State Softball Caps A Productive Day By Blanking Cardinals

Junior catcher Rachel Mueller collected two hits and drove in a run in FSU's 2-0 victory. (Photo by Ed Hyde)

Apr 24, 2010

The Ferris State University softball team completed an
impressive Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC)
doubleheader sweep of the nation's 17th-ranked team as effective
pitching and hitting lead the Bulldogs to a 2-0 triumph against
Saginaw Valley State this Saturday (April 24) in the nightcap at
the SVSU Athletic Complex in University Center, Mich.

The victory marked the fifth in the last six outings for the
Bulldogs, who improve their overall record to 22-14 and 13-7 in the
GLIAC. Saginaw Valley State fell to 23-10 overall and 10-8 in
league play with the two losses for the day.

A pitcher's duel between senior Kayle Stevenson
(Holland/West Ottawa) and Saginaw Valley State's Kari Bowlby went
on for the first five-plus innings of game two. Ferris State
was able to break through in the bottom of the fifth inning to snap
a scoreless tie with a run on three hits. Sophomore third
baseman Makenzi Peterson
(Big Rapids) initiated the scoring for FSU with a double to left
field and moved to third base following senior designated player
Rhea
Flores' (Dearborn Heights/Southgate Anderson) infield
single. Following a walk by Bowlby to sophomore first baseman
Chelsea
Morris (Jenison), junior catcher Rachel Mueller
(Santa Clarita, Calif./Valencia) smacked the ball up the middle for
a RBI single which scored Peterson with the
contest's first run and gave Ferris State a 1-0 lead.

The Bulldogs would come right back in the next stanza
with a sixth-inning insurance run off Bowlby to go
up 2-0. Senior second baseman Amanda
Harrington (St. Joseph/Stevensville-Lakeshore) and
senior outfielder Rachel Wade (Canton)
lead off with back-to-back singles. The two proceeded to
advance a base on Wade's single with a SVSU
fielding error. Freshman outfielder Morgan
Kramerich (Crest Hill, Ill./Lockport) put down a
sacrifice bunt which allowed Harrington to score
from third. Ferris almost picked up another run in the sixth
frame but Rachel Wade was thrown out at the
plate on a fielder's choice.

Kayle Stevenson (10-6), who notched her
team-leading fifth shutout of the spring, retired the Cardinals in
order for the seventh to pick up the decision.
Stevenson gave up only three SVSU hits
while fanning three and walking one in a complete-game
performance. The Cardinals were unable to tally a base hit
off the left-handed throwing Stevenson until the
top of the fifth inning with two in the frame.

FSU, which had eight hits in the game and left 11 runners on
base, was paced by Rachel Mueller and
Rachel Wade with two hits each.
Mueller chipped in with the Bulldogs' lone RBI of
the encounter.

The sweep by Ferris State avenged a pair of home setbacks (2-0
and 4-1) to the Cardinals earlier this season (March 31) at Big
Rapids, Mich.

Ferris State will hope to pass another test this Sunday (April
25) versus the nationally ninth-ranked Wayne State Warriors in
Detroit, Mich. The league doubleheader gets underway with
game one at noon (EDT) followed by the second game at 2 p.m.
(EDT). The two games will represent the first meetings
between the teams this 2010 regular season.